RELATIONAL AGENCY: CHANGING CONDITIONS IN SCHOOLS FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS

International Society for Cultural and Activity Research Congress

Sydney, Australia, 30th September – 3rd October 2014

University of Auckland

Susan Gray Margaret Kitchen

Thank you to the organisers

Quality of life in the classroom (Alllwright, 2003; 2012)

The need for democratic rather than managerial approaches (Sachs, 2001; Daniels et al., 2007)

Knowledgeable teachers who understand how to bring about change (Kaufman & Crandall, 2005; Engeström, 1994)

Relational agency (Edwards, 2005; 2011)

Conceptual background to this study

Effective agents of change practise relational agency:

“The capacity to align one’s thoughts and action with those of others in order to interpret problems of practice and to respond to these interpretations.” (Edwards 2005, p. 269)

“Confident engagement with the knowledge that underpins one’s own specialist practice as well as the capacity to respond to what others have to offer.” (Edwards 2011, p. 33)

Relational agency

The demographic context of Aotearoa/NZ

1991 2013

The demographic context of Tamaki Makaurau/Auckland

39% born overseas

The context of this study: the GradDip TESOL

MOE TESOL Fees Scholarship programme

Agent of Change assignment

Aim of this case study: Re-examine data to find examples of effective relational agency, particularly when road blocks had been met

Participants: 30/60 2 teachers

1 secondary IT teacher (Jenny)

1 primary school teacher (Emily) Analysis: data coded separately, looking for patterns and making

interpretations, cognisant of our conceptual frameworks Salient themes then compared

Methodology

Negative situation (Sannino, 2008) Resources drawn on to understand the situation more deeply

(Engeström, 1994) Tentative solutions (Engeström, 1994) Understanding the motives of those with responsibility

(Edwards, 2005; 2011) Reworked solution (Edwards, 2005; 2011)

Findings

Understanding and practising relational agency critical to enacting change

Disciplinary knowledge underpins relational agency

Without relational agency disciplinary knowledge remains latent

Discussion

Conclusion

Practising relational agency enables authoring of new identities

A first step in building more democratic settings

Thank yous.gray@auckland.ac.nz

m.kitchen@auckland.ac.nz

References

Unfurling koru image appears courtesy of Jon Radoff.